In The End
by Pricee
Summary: Post Predacons Rising. Arcee needs help coping with Optimus's sacrifice.


**"Above all, do not lament my absence. For in my spark, I know that this is not the end; but merely a new beginning. Simply put, another transformation."**

* * *

A week had past since Optimus's sacrifice. A long week of mourning. Team Prime, and the newly recruited Knockout, were all hard at work rebuilding Cybertron, fulfilling Optimus's last wishes. The work pace was going well, slow but steady. Refugees had arrived on Cybertron. So far, everything was peaceful. Bumblebee drove back into the temporary base, skidding to a stop by Ratchet. He'd been supervising at a building site, until Ultra Magnus, who was back to moderate health, came to take over. "The hospital is coming along nicely. They will probably have it finished in about 2 weeks." Bumblebee informed Ratchet as he took a cub of energon from the storage unit.  
"Good. The sooner we have that completed, the sooner we can move on to another project." Most of the team was present, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Ratchet and Smokescreen. Knockout was on supervising duty at the Hall of Records "Where's Arcee?" Bumblebee asked the room when he noticed the femme's absence.  
"Where do you think?" Ratchet's question needed no answer. She was at the Well Of Allsparks. While all of the team had taken Optimus's death hard, she was suffering the most. And she wouldn't let anyone in to help her. She'd barely spoken in a week. Spending all of her time at the Well. They all took turn checking on her hourly, but she never acknowledged their presence or words of comfort. She had shut down completely.

"Someone go and check on her, it's been a while." Ratchet instructed as he began work on the monitors, searching for energon deposits.  
"I'll go." Bee placed the empty cube on the table, transformed and drove away. As he drove, Bumblebee let his mind drift. How were the kids? How was Raf? Would they see them again? He took in how Cybertron looked. He'd been born into war, so he'd never seen how Cybertron looked in its former glory. As he drew nearer to the Well, he transformed. He could see Arcee from where he was, she had her back to him, facing into the Well. He didn't know whether she knew he was there, or if she'd even acknowledge him being there at all.

"Cee?" Bumblebee gently approached the femme. She hung her legs over the well and absent mindedly swung them back and forth. Looking straight down into the depths, you could faintly see the light of the Allspark shining. Bumblebee took notice of how tired Arcee looked. Her winglets and shoulders were drooped down and her face drained of any life. Thinking back, Bumblebee hadn't seen Arcee take any energon since the last morning she and Optimus emerged from their quarters, "Come on Arcee. Talk to me. You can't shut us out forever. We are all here for you."  
"I know. Ratchet told me. And Bulkhead. And Wheeljack. Smokescreen, Ultra Magnus, even Knockout."  
"It's the truth. Optimus wouldn't want you to be like this. He wouldn't want you to shut down. We are your family Cee. Talk to me."

Silence. She continued to stare down into the well.  
"OK. How about I talk then. You can join in when you want to." He looked for any sign of acknowledgement from her, but he got none. "I remember when I first met Optimus. I was at the Academy. It wasn't long after I got there. One day he just showed up and went around talking to all of us. I remember thinking that I wanted to be just like him. He looked so strong and brave. A true warrior. When he first spoke to me I didn't know what to say to him. I just stared at him. He patted me on the shoulder and asked me about what I had learned. My strengths and weaknesses; he gave me pointers on how to make my strengths better and master my weaknesses. Without him I wouldn't be as I am today." Bee looked down into the well. An occasional flash of light came up the walls, lighting up the darkness.  
"He had that affect on bots. He could make you see hope in the darkest times. When Airachnid killed Tailgate, he never left my side. He went everywhere with me. He held me as I cried. Held me while I slept. I barely left his arms."

"He really loved you. Everyone could see it. From the way he spoke about you to the way he looked at you. There was always a light in his eyes when he looked at you." Bumblebee pulled Arcee into his arms when tears fell from her eyes. One hand cradling her head as he rocked her back and forth. Hugging his arm tightly, Arcee rested her head against his chest. "I need him Bee. I can't do this alone, I need him." She sobbed, her tears trailing down his chassis. "You aren't alone Cee. You have all of us, your family. Me, Bulk and Ratchet aren't going anywhere, and neither is the rest of the team. And you can still visit Jack."  
"It's not the same." She wiped the tears from her eyes, but stayed cuddled into Bumblebee's side.

"What about you? How did you two meet?"  
"We were young, at the academy. Orion was sat by me in a lecture one day and we got to talking. We became really close friends." She recalled.  
"And then what?"  
"A couple weeks before we graduated from the academy, Orion asked me to go to Crystal City with him. At the end of the day, he kissed me. Told me that he'd been wanting to do that for years. We've been together ever since then. Through it all."  
"He really loved you." "Yeah." The two stayed huddled together for a while. Bumblebee let her stay against him in silence. He didn't want to push her too much if she wasn't ready.

"Cee, I'm going to head back to the base, you going to be OK?"  
"Yeah, I'll be fine Bee. I won't be too long now."The two untangled themselves from each other and Bee stood to leave. He looked down into the Well once more, sighing as he turned away from it, "Bee," He looked over his shoulder to the femme, "Thanks."  
"It's what family does." Smiling at the femme, Bumblebee transformed and left her to herself.

Arcee looked back into the Well as Bumblebee disappeared from sight, a fresh set of tears brimming her optics.  
"I don't know if you can hear me. But I'm going to say it anyway, I need to." Arcee wiped the tears from her eyes, "I know why you did it. You did what you needed to do. It doesn't make it any easier though. I don't want to move on from you, you've been such a big part of my life for so long. I still remember what you told me when we first kissed, 'I am yours, and you are mine'. This will never get any easier. Losing someone that you care about more then anything else, you never really come back from that." Her voice trailed off sadly, fresh tears coating her optics. "I fell in love with Orion Pax before the war, and I will always be in love with Optimus Prime. We will be together again, one day." She gently placed her hand over her stomach, smiling. "I know you would have been an amazing father." Getting to her feet, she smiled once more at the well before heading back towards the base. A single red spark of light flew out the well as she walked away.


End file.
